St. Landry democrat., 1887-06-04

Wallack's Theatre remains in name
alone.
HencefOrth the name will stand, but
that is all, for Wallack, on his pension
retires to his home, and the places that
knew him once and his father before him
will know him no more forever
The king is dead long live the king
Lester Wallack retires; Henry Abbey
comes in.
Who of US is ignorant of Wallack's
Theatre, of Lester Wallack's fame, and
of the reputation that comes down to US
from more than a quarter of century
back, of his father, the greatest of all the
Wallacks?
Wallack's Theatre is reproduction of
the house his father opened in 1861 inn
proved and modernized. 1t bears the
same relation to the Thirteenth-street
house that an adapted play does to its
iginal-better suited to the market. 1t
stands 1O5 feet on the east side of Broad
way and 1879 feet or Thirtieth street,
the ground being leased to Mr. Wallack
until the year of our Lord 1914
| by which time the owners, lessee
and present patrons will all have passed
beyond the flood. OF the entire struc-
ture, not yet completed, it is neces-
sary to say briefly that it is to be nine
stories high, two built of rock faced
freestone and seven of Philadelphia brick,
with Carlisle stone trimmings. For the
present it is sufficient to deal with
the theatre per Sc, an accomplished fact,
a work worthily conceived and admir-
ably completed The stage is thirty-two
feet wide and forty-three feet deep, with
proscenium arch thirtyfour feet high.
The floor is a maze of traps and slides.
The cellar beneath affords ample scope
for disappearance of scenic effects,
groups of tricksters. The footlights are
of modern design, set in tin gutter
painted so as to kill the glare. All the
border lights are built in tine, and, so
far as human foresight can deter
mine, perfectly arranged for safety as
well as effect. The paint-room is above
the stage, the dressing-room below it,
and the necessary apartments for must
clans and the varied retinue of the es-
tablishment are all conveniently located.
This much for the stage.
The public find the main entrance on
Broadway thirty feet wide and three
stories high. A beautiful portico resting
on three polished granite pillars fronts
the passing crowds, Gaping which is to
be a vast arch of the Italian Renaissance
school. A large vestibule affords hospit
able accommodation to patrons who
stand in line waiting the ministration of
Charley Moss or Bardon in the box office,
and thence past folding doors is the en-
trance to an apartment forty-four by
twenty-five feet in size, a festive foyer
where early gllmpses of the beauty
further on suggest the treats pre-
pared for lovers of symmetry and
devotees to color. Precisely what Mr..
Wallack was thinking of when |
he designed-for to his eye are largely |
due the harmonies of tone and color, the |
perfect blendings and the tasteful deco |
rations-the auditorium, it is hard to i'm |
agine. The reader does not care for a
technical description of the boudoiristic
scene. The parquet is nearly square,
sixty-five feet long by sixty feet broad,
and filled with fan-shaped spaces, on |
which front seats that are successes in
the way of comfort and convenience
They shut up close and they open with
generous breadths atfording an easy
and obviously expensive cushion of
plush and stutfing tempting in itself and
IL rl Ia IoJ
are reached by broad and easy stairs,
which lead to vast foyer on the first
floor, sixty feet by thirty feet in extent,
beautifully carpeted and elegantly fur
nished. The balcony front is deliberately
designed andvery elegant-an open iron
work pattern, old gold in color and capped
by crimson velvet cushion. Over this bal
cony is the family circle, supported by
substantial iron columns resting on the
main floor and piercing the balcony.
And this in turn opens up to a great
dome made of iron and miracle of at
face of the ceiling is sixty feet square,
,urving thirteen feet, with a dome in the
centre which arises eight feet high and is
;hrty-two feet in diameter, the treat
nent of which causes it to resemble an
|
pended from the centre of the dome,
giving it the appearance of an immense
metallic reflector The ceiling
S surrounded with an arcade which ex-
ends about the entire wall, the treatment
# which harmonizes in tone with the
eiling. The interior of each arch con- ]
aims decorative female figure on gold
round.
The entire management of the whole ,
ecoration is pleasant and agreeable in {
one and bold in execution. ]
Blazing with light, at1ame with the ]
litter of thousand jets rejecting from J
he beveled glass and FURNISHED pillars,
he house fairly shines with brilliant {
eauty, which in turn finds exaggerated t
nd extravagant impetus in the foods of ]
lght that flow from the great overhanging +
wo-ton chandelier suspended from the /
entire of the dome. /
This vast reservoir and conduit is an s
bject of art and skill. c
Its centre issan immense porcelain 4
lobe, turquoise blue in color, from which g
urst four huge dragons, eight feet in I
eight, in whose multifarious claws are g
orcelain candles, ten score in number, f
anged in four great circles blazing and '